No. of Recommendations: 3
But that's not going to be changed by what we're doing.
Yes, it is. For one thing we used our carriers as offensive weapons, reducing the people and production and munitions the Iranians were freely giving out to the Houthis. That's all gone now.
No more sitting back, playing defense as the last hapless administration had us doing.
Again, China didn't materially depend on them for any military objectives - they want Iran to be their economic and diplomatic ally and provide a steady source of energy.
Who claimed they did? No one. China used Iran to tie up western assets in the Gulf and to secure its energy flank. Both are donezo now.
("We didn't diminish their ability to be valuable to China, because that didn't depend on their military equipment!").
Their value to China is energy + the PITA factor in the Gulf. That's gone now.
They've been improving their energy security by: i) stockpiling and reserving; and ii) reducing their oil dependency by significantly investing in renewables.
This funny. They're producing more coal than ever and armies/Navies don't run on solar panels.
